Tag: prague

Terezin 
We spent the day Friday in Terezin. During WWII, the entire town of Terezin was converted into a ghetto by the Nazis for Jews from all over Europe.  The town was built as a garrison and prison in the 1780s, making it a pretty ghastly town with it’s battlements and fortifications to begin with.  Prior to it falling under Nazi control, the town housed around 3,500 people.  At it’s peak, there were over 155,000 people packed into the town, leaving roughly about 1.5sq/m of living space per person in 1942.  At that time, roughly 105,000 of those were children.  The town was mainly used as a transfer station for Jews on their way to much worse places (Auschwitz, for example).  Only about 3,000 of the people who passed through Terezin survived the war.

We toured a museum which had some amazing artwork created by the Jews who were held captive there.  The most heart-wrenching were the pictures created by the children who were encamped in Terezin.  Surprisingly enough, there was a pretty vibrant music and art culture which sprung from Terezin and survived past the end of the war.  There is also a crematorium which was used to dispose of the massive number of people who died in the camp. Understandably, I didn’t take a lot of pictures.

Last Day in Prague
Today was our last day in Prague.  It wasn’t a pretty day, but we did get to wander through various parts of the city that we hadn’t seen.  We found our way up to the Effle tower replica, which is constructed at the same hight as the the original in Paris.  Honestly, it’s quite ugly, but the view of the city was great!  We also got to spend the afternoon in the Cafe Louvre, which is somewhat well known because Franz Kafka used to frequent it.  It was beautiful and the hot chocolate was amazing.  It is hard to describe what it is like just wondering the streets, just enjoying being in its presence. Today was one of the best days we’ve had yet.  I think that was just because I got to spend time with my friends, taking in a much of this beautiful city before we have to leave tomorrow.

Pictures
The random pictures below are just a few that I’ve taken toward the end of this week that I hadn’t posted yet. More will follow via Picasa when I get home.

 

The city of Plzen (pronounced Pilzen) holds a particular attraction for beer lovers, as it is the home of the first true pilsner beer Pilsner Urquell.  The Czech name for it is Plzensky Prazdroj, which literally means “original pilsner”.  It only contains four ingredients (water, barley, hops, & yeast) and was first brewed here in the mid 1800’s when it became a smashing success for the town.  However, do to both it’s popularity and the unfortunate business oversight of not trademarking “pilsner” soon enough, the word pilsner began to be used to describe lesser-quality beers that carry similar characteristics but none of the unique flavor of the original.  For instance, the American Budweiser (brewed with rice, of all things…) is called a “pilsner” but has very little resemblance to its great-grand daddy. 

The tour of the brewery was interesting, not so much in what we learned, but in how proud they are of their beer.  We walked through a multi-thousand dollar exhibit dedicated solely to the water they use to make the beer.  (It’s water.  You need it to make beer.  We get it.)  The video room where they tell the story of how they make the beer has a 270 degree screen that you watch while standing on a slowly rotating platform. They’ve really put a lot of money into convincing you that they are something special.

As for myself, I was convinced that they’ve got something special before I went. Of all the “pilsner” beers that I’ve ever had, Pilsner Urquell has long been a favorite. The best part was going down into their cellar where they originally stored the beer while it was fermenting. They have over 9km of cellar tunnels and rooms in which they used to age the beer in giant barrels. What’s great is that they still use the cellar for small batches to test and make sure that the current modern process matches the quality that came from their roots. So, they still age small batches in huge barrels which you get to sample on the tour. I have to say that unfiltered, unpasteurized pilsner is wonderful.

There is much more to Plzen than it’s beer… it has a somewhat interesting history with respect to WWII (they have a museum dedicated to General Patton that we visited) and the ubiquitous cathedral (St. Bartholomew in this case, which has the tallest spire in the country).

All together, it was a great day trip which ended with a relaxing evening back at Andrea and Greg’s place. Andrea and I cooked dinner for Andy’s birthday, and celebrated with pieces of a Czech desert (I forget the name at the moment Medovmik) which is a slightly-sweet honey cake.

Yesterday and today we took day trips outside of Prague. The first was to Karlstejn which is a walled fortress built as a summer home for Charles IV.  Construction started in 1348 and like most things that have been around for over 600 years ago it has a history that’s longer than I can possibly remember.  The basics are that it’s big, beautiful, and you can’t go into the more interesting parts of the structure… you know, the beautiful room gilded in gold, encrusted in jewels, etc. etc.

Today we spent the day today in Kutna Hora, after a brief stop at a Bohemian crystal outlet and factory.  There were two major highlights of that trip to me: a silver mine from the 13th century, and a church decorated with bones from literally thousands of human beings. It’s hard to imagine, but the walls and door-frames and ceilings were entirely decorated with human bones.  There was a family crest made from bones. Several pyres (huge piles) of bones. Even a chandelier made from at least one of every bone in the human body.  It’s really hard to imagine what someone had on their mind when they were thinking that these works of art (they really are, in a strange way, beautiful) should be in a house of worship.  This is what happens, apparently, when you run out of space for all of the bodies in your back yard.

Tonight, we hit the town for an evening of local modern jazz and drinks (green fairies, anyone?), which was a welcome relaxation and entertainment after sloughing around in cold, dark mines all afternoon.

As for tomorrow, we’re celebrating Andy’s 24th birthday with a trip to Pilzen, the one-true home of Pilzner beer.

I’ll get the pictures from these day trips up later… the camera is busy charging, and my brain is busy sleeping.